Burnin’

Marshall Mathers, a.k.a. Eminem, rapper, bad boy, political lightning rod and movie star is one savvy cat. On the eve of the election, he chimes in with “Mosh,” which he premiered on MTV last week. Now the video is hosted on the web and links to it are being sent to people who don’t even like rap. Why is it so viral? Because the content is dark, in your face, anti-Bush rhetoric with a get out the vote ending. I’m down with that. Let’s hope some of Eminem’s millions of fans are also down with it come Tuesday.

click to play

Anthony Lapp writing for Guerilla News Network says, it’s unlikely “Mosh” will be misconstrued. This is a song with a clear message. Eminem, in his typically egotistical way, is calling for regime change.

Come along, follow me, as I lead through the darkness.
As I provide just enough spark that we need, to proceed.
Carry on, give me hope, give me strength, come with me, and I won’t, steer you wrong.
Give your faith and your trust, as I guide us through the fog, to the light at the end of the tunnel.” -Eminem

I think Lapp may have misconstrued. The artist’s use of first person does not necessarily mean he, Eminem, is ready to lead us through the darkness. I think the “I” in this case refers to The President or the candidate, namely any man who dare say these words to the American public.

Columbia professor, Todd Gitlin, writing in the current edition of Mother Jones: All governments lie, the muckraker I.F. Stone used to say. They fudge and omit. They bury and muffle inconvenient facts. They do this repeatedly, relentlessly, shamelessly. That’s hardly surprising. Why shouldn’t they seek—as a Marine Corps public affairs officer, Lt. Colonel Richard Long, told a conference on journalism and the Iraq war—to “dominate the information environment”?

If ever there were a time for unbridled journalism, this would be it: terrorist mayhem, war, corporate scandal, ecological crisis, economic upheaval. Public passion and curiosity have been stoked. But the potential investigators have been, to a considerable degree, otherwise occupied.

I.F. Stone digging dirt

I believe in word-of-mouth advertising. I also believe in neighborhood joints that prove themselves worthy of such beliefs. Bistro Campagne, a French country restaurant in Lincoln Square (the original is in Evanston), gives a neighbor ample reason to believe. This place has perfect service, and I find that hard to come by anymore. Plus, the food is great and the environment is as comfortable as your living room. I’ve been there twice now, and count myself fortunate.

Breaking news from Ukiah, CA…

Ukiah entrepreneur Kumar Plocher is fueling a revolution one gallon of biodiesel at a time. Plocher and his wife, Sunny Beaver, manage Yokayo Biofuels, and they preach the biofuels gospel throughout Mendocino County. Since the company started, Yokayo Biofuels has merely distributed biodiesel. However, Plocher is close to finding a site in Ukiah for a biofuels production plant.

“It’s a common misconception that we are producing biofuels right now. I can’t wait to be able to stop having to correct that misconception,” Plocher said. “Being a biodiesel dealer is not profitable, but if you control the process, you increase your ability to make money. In many ways, we are pioneers in what we do. I think a lot of people have their eye on us to see how well we do with our plans.”

Yokayo Biofuels collects restaurant grease and converts it into fuel for diesel-powered vehicles. More than 100 restaurants in Mendocino and Sonoma counties take part in the grease recycling program. Their participation yields about 5,000 gallons per month for Plocher’s business.

Some people like to bag peaks. Colorado has 54 fourteen thousand foot peaks, for instance. So people work to “bag” as many as they can. I have another more citified pursuit. The bagging of Frank Lloyd Wright designed properties. With DK and Anina—in Chicago for a philosophy conference—we embarked on a cultural Sunday in Hyde Park. First stop, 5757 S. Woodlawn, home of the 1910 Wright commission known as the Robie House, for Frederick C. Robie, its first owner.

Robie House living room with prominent south facing windows.

The house is undergoing a ten-year restoration. Little of the original furniture is on display. The dining table and chairs are on display four blocks away, at U of C’s Smart Museum.

In the 19th century, American gentlemen, or men of the moneyed class could simply pay their way out of armed service. No back room deals nor late night phone calls needed. At least it was honest then.

Thanks to Syracuse Cultural Workers for the image.

Sadly, I missed last Friday’s edition of CNN’s Crossfire, where comedian Jon Stewart admonished the left’s Paul Begala and the right’s Tucker Carlson. Thankfully, webmasters everywhere have posted the bandwidth-rich piece to their sites.

I salute his intent and his moxie, but Stewart made the mistake of being seriously serious. As a fan of his show on Comedy Central, I don’t mind saying he is much better when he’s seriously funny. Carlson asked him if he lectured his friends this way and called him a bore—a real insult coming from a man in a bow tie. Stewart said, sure if they deserve it. Carlson went on to say Stewart is John Kerry’s “butt boy.” Stewart capped off his partisan hacks attack, by calling Tucker a dick.

“I do believe that weblog publishing tools have enabled the rise of the individual journalist-entrepreneur, away from the shackles of underpaid, under-utilized, under-appreciated jobs with formal media companies.” -Rafat Ali of Paid Content

I started blogging in July 2003 because I had something to say. My intention was never to make money. Like most writers I simply wanted to be heard.

As I have grown more comfortable with the form and learned much more about the blogosphere, it became quite clear that one can do more than simply be heard. Rafat Ali, Jason Calacanis and Nick Denton have all made this into a living, and a healthy one at that. Some reports have Ali pulling in ten grand a month in ad revenue. For a one-man show, that’s pretty damn good.

In recent days I’ve noted that Ali and Calacanis are looking for bloggers to help them grow their media products. I have contacted both gentlemen about the possibility of joining their firms. Yet, even while doing so, I had to confront the question, “Why?” Why work for them when I have the ability and the temperament to go it alone. Not here. This blog is covers too much ground to make money (and as I mentioned, that was never the purpose here). The key to monetary success with a blog is to exploit a niche, particularly a well-defined niche that you know a great deal about.

I decided tonight to embark on a new path with my friend Shawn Hartley–a technology and marketing wizard and a former colleague of mine from Bozell’s Omaha outpost. We’re launching Adpulp.com, a blog dedicated to covering the ad industry, in our own inimitable style, of course. Sure, there are some blogs already operating in this space, but space on the web is infinite. We will establish our own voice and an audience will find us. Blog it and they will come, you might say.

“There’s a great passage of the Bible that says, ‘What does it mean, my brother, to say you have faith if there are no deeds? Faith without works is dead.’ And I think that everything you do in public life has to be guided by your faith, affected by your faith, but without transferring it in any official way to other people. That’s why I fight against poverty. That’s why I fight to clean up the environment and protect this earth. That’s why I fight for equality and justice.” -John Kerry, during Presidential presentation #3, when asked about Catholic bishops who have warned their parishioners that a vote for Kerry would be considered a sin

My favorite rhetorical flourishes from John Kerry during the Presidential presentations came when he quoted passages from The Bible, throwing Dubya well off his mark. This guy is good. He’s not conceding the religious vote, despite the fact that no evangelical Christians will vote for him. There are plenty of mainstream Christians, dissenting Catholics, and people of all faiths (and no faith) who will.

Plan B, a San Francisco-based “strategic and creative sparring partner for brands in pop culture,” just blew my mind. Here’s the first three (of ten) points in their brand hijacking manifesto:

1) Let go of the fallacy that your brand belongs to you. It belongs to the market.

2) Co-create your brand by collaborating with your consumers.

3) Scrap the focus groups, fire the cool chasers and hire your audience.

Umm…this is what I’ve been saying for the last 18 months, but not so succinctly, nor with any real authority. On one hand, I’m insanely jealous that I’ve been beaten to the punch. On the other hand, I feel completely validated and more prepared than ever to put these insights to good use.

I’m a radical independent. The Democratic Party does not appeal to me. However, some eloquent Dems do. Most notably, Dennis Kucinich and his fellow members of the Progressive Caucus. And I must admit, the more I learn about John Kerry the more I like him. But this scares me. I like him because he’s smart, complicated and a man of character–the very things I’m afraid will keep him from winning the White House.

As a marketing professional, I’m a big believer in the axiom, “Consumers are smarter than you think.” I desperately want to believe this. Mostly, so I can create advertising that I’m proud of, which is no easy task. Yet, there’s plenty of proof that a more effective means of getting one’s message to stick is to make it easy to digest, then repeat it over and over again. The Republicans are masters of this form. They dream up their sound bites–or to borrow Berkeley linguist George Lakoff’s word, frames–then they use their vast treasure chests to pound these lines home. Lines like, “John Kerry is a flip flopper.”

The messages needn’t be true to work. Far from it. They merely need to be memorable and have immense budgets behind them. As I watch our President, and the positive reactions he garners from his supporters, I am often bewildered. I ask myself, what it is about this man that they find appealing? The answer is, despite his first family pedigree, he’s been able to package himself as a regular guy. A church going father and husband who sees issues in black and white. This is the way most Americans see the issues, as well. For most Americans get their information from broadcast media, a black and white medium if there ever was one. People like me like C-Span and newspapers, especially if they’re foreign. But I’m not like most people. I’m an intellectual troublemaker.

A great example of Americans seeing things in black and white is the war on terrorism. The intelligent response to 9/11 is to ask “Why did they do this to us?” But no one is confronting that pertinent question. I’m sure John Kerry has a good answer as to why, but he can’t afford to ask it in public. I can. The terrorists bombed the heart of America’s financial and military infrastructure because they want a future of self-determination. The effects of globalization in the Middle East and American ties to Saudi Arabian oil interests, including our willingness to help defend this resource at all costs led the terrorists to attack. They want a war with us and we were only too ready to deliver it to them.

I hope Kerry does win. But to do so, he needs to dumb it down and quick. I think he’s trying. When he says he will hunt down the terrorists and kill them, he’s attempting to appeal to Joe Sixpack. One of the most important lessons we learned from Vietnam is WIN. The other is control the media. Bush-Cheney are fantastic at the latter, but not so good at the former. I find the kill line reprehensible from such a thoughtful man, but I know he needs it. A better answer, one that would actually make the world safer (not to mention the air cleaner) would be to move hell and high water to develop sustainable energy NOW. There’s a real future in this direction and a ton of profit too, but it would require us to say we were wrong to rely so heavily on oil, and wrong to get into bed with the Saudis.

Frank Capra’s 1939 classic, Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, reveals one man’s brave attempt to negotiate a thoroughly corrupt system–the United States Congress. In a case of real life imitating art, we now have Jack Davis, a lifelong Republican from upstate New York running for his district’s House seat as a Democrat. Mr. Davis, a grandfather of 13, and owner of a manufacturing company, is running to save American jobs, something he knows about on a first-hand basis. Workers at his plant make $25/hour on average.

I applaud Sinclair Broadcasting’s transparency. I know many liberals are outraged that the owner of 62 TV stations has ordered the airing of right wing propaganda on the eve of the election, but it serves to hammer home one of the points I continue to make here–that the mainstream media is in the pocket of the Republican Party (click here, or here, to learn how they actually achieve this). This stunt makes Fox News seem legit, and that is a very tall order.

Carlton Sherwood, producer of Stolen Honor

The thing that gets me about this Sherwood guy and slanderers like John O’Neill is the fact that the atrocities in Vietnam are so well documented. Even worse, is the fact that our military is engaged in the same torturous behavior today. To pretend otherwise is as delusional as it is dangerous.

If you’d like to view a true documentary, one with no political axe to grind, here it is. Thanks Frontline.